Hello all, on 14 July we go on sale with our 2013 World Voyages & Exotic Discoveries. We will have both Queen Victoria and Queen Mary 2 on World Voyages and of course Queen Elizabeth at the same time will be undertaking a voyage which starts in Southampton and goes right out through the Americas, through the Pacific, round New Zealand and back to Southampton.  So for the very first time all three of our Queens in early 2013 will be away on long voyages.

We have been going round the world for many, many years, but I thought I would share with you how we pull these programmes together and the unique aspects of a long voyage with Cunard Line.

These days planning has to be done further and further in advance.  We have yet to finish the selling cycle for our early 2012 World Voyages and here we are putting on sale the cruises for 2013.  We find that with longer voyages our guests like to plan ahead, especially if it’s a full World Voyage, which could be between 105 and 110 days away from home.  As the world of cruising grows in popularity we are also having to book key ports and destinations further in advance – this is especially true when it comes to destinations like Sydney and Hong Kong.

Planning World Voyages is one of the most fun things we do.  You will find us in the office huddled around maps and atlases trying to find that unique blend of what we call “big hitting” ports as well as those smaller and more cultural destinations where our guests can really get a sense of local community and tradition.  We also take account of how fortunate we are to have guests joining us from many different countries around the world.  Where we can we use Queen Mary 2 to link different ships and itineraries between Southampton and New York and for 2012 and 2013 we have created the ability for our valued German guests to go right around the world with Cunard from Hamburg. You can even go round the world with us on two different ships – that is proving to be very popular. It is a chance to experience different ships and meet different people.

We also work hard to make sure we get a good balance between the full World Voyage and also some of the sectors so that guests can choose shorter duration holidays but still get a real sense of some of the exciting destinations that we visit.  For example, going through the Asian destinations proves to be very popular, as do some of the longer voyages, say from Sydney to Cape Town or Hong Kong to Sydney.  So for 2013 we believe we have a really good variety of offering for our guests – both our valued loyal guests and those looking to try a longer voyage for the first time.

As I mentioned, Queen Elizabeth is doing a very interesting long voyage from Southampton, but this can also be bought by our North American guests as a 36 night “Circle Pacific” voyage from Los Angeles, visiting the best destinations in the South Pacific and going round the beautiful islands of New Zealand.

Our most traditional World Voyage offering for 2013 will be on Queen Victoria. Now of course Queen Victoria spends 2011 and 2012 on her “Americas” deployment, visiting the Caribbean, Panama Canal and Hawaii.  For 2013 she returns to a full circumnavigation of the world and our most traditional World Voyage offering.  We expect this to be very popular with our guests right around the world. For example our North American guests can take this voyage from New York right the way round the world to Southampton and then join Queen Mary 2 on the same day to travel back to New York.  Our North American guests can also pick this voyage up in Fort Lauderdale or San Francisco. Our British guests can board in Southampton with as much luggage as they can muster and go right around the world without ever seeing an airport – marvellous.

Queen Mary 2 on the other hand, is doing a different long voyage.  Many of you will know that for the forthcoming 2012 World Voyage Queen Mary 2 will undertake her first Royal Circumnavigation of Australia.  This 21 night voyage around all the best bits of Australia has sold extremely well and is popular both for those of our guests going right around the world and many Australians who will join for that sector.  There is something rather cool about showing Australians the best of Australia.  It wasn’t too difficult to work out the itinerary because all the best bits of Australia are in fact on the outside.

 

For 2013 we had to find a way of following that and therefore we have decided as part of the 2013 World Voyage with Queen Mary 2 to go round New Zealand from Sydney.  I actually decided on this idea when I was visiting New Zealand earlier this year, both on Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary 2.  New Zealand is beautiful – it was my first time there and I was struck both by the beauty by the scenery as we sailed along the coast of South Island, but also from the very welcoming approach of both Wellington and Auckland. It was very sad that we were unable to visit Christchurch due to the tragic earthquake that took place just three days before Queen Mary 2 was planning to be in town.  We instead went to Wellington and the way in which that particular port welcomed us and looked after our guests was terrific. It was there and then that I decided that for 2013 we would send our ships to New Zealand and send Queen Mary 2 around New Zealand – we hope in a little way that that we will give something back to New Zealand, but we also know that it is a beautiful destination for our guests to visit.

We look forward to welcoming many of our valued regular guests back to World Voyages with us, both in 2012 and for the new programme in 2013.  We also look forward to welcoming the very special “once in a lifetime” guests who join us for their first ever World Voyage. There are, believe it or not, a lot of people who aspire throughout their career and working life to go around the world as soon as they retire. We look forward to welcoming them on board one of our ships in both 2012 and 2013.

Do have a look at the different offers that we have available, both for the forthcoming 2012 World Voyage and the very attractive offers we now have available for the launch of the 2013 World Voyages.
There are a number of cruise lines that offer Round the World Voyages, but we believe that with Cunard there are some experiences that are extra special when you go round the world on one of our ships. In recent years I have been fortunate to experience events such as:

• Hosting Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Queen Mary 2 sailing from Mauritius to Cape Town and listening to his awesome and frank lectures.

• Departing New York earlier this year with all three of our Queens under a festival of fireworks alongside the Statue of Liberty in New York.

• Sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco.  Now I missed the arrival of Queen Mary 2 on her maiden call into San Francisco, but I am certainly not going to miss the maiden call of Queen Elizabeth into San Francisco next February.  And we will be back there in 2013.
• I have twice witnessed the meeting of Queens in Sydney Harbour and it is quite remarkable.  Whilst we don’t have a meeting of the Queens in Sydney in 2012 or 2013, we will of course have our ships calling into Sydney Harbour separately.  The sight of a Cunard Queen coming into Sydney Harbour, whether you are standing on the steps of the Opera House or whether you are lucky enough to be on board, is indeed a sight to behold.  It makes you proud to be British and it shows Sydney off like nothing else can. (By the way I challenge all of our guests to climb the bridge whilst in Sydney – I have done it the last two years and intend to be up there again next February).

• Being atop Queen Mary 2 a few miles of the coast of South Island of New Zealand with all the lights off seeing the most incredible night sky and hear our astronomer gasp out loud as he saw a star with his own eyes for the very first time.
• World Voyage Dinners – well they are something of a Cunard secret.  A secret known very well to all those who have joined us on a full World Voyage, but not something that many other people know about.  By way of saying Thank You to all those guests who book a full Round the World voyage with Cunard Line, we choose a sparkling venue in a major destination somewhere around the world and take all of our guests off the ship for a Gala Dinner. It is indeed a very special event and we will make it just as special in both 2012 and 2013.  It is our small way of thanking those guests for their wonderful loyalty.
• Sailing into Dubai on one of our new Ocean Liners and berthing alongside our dearly beloved QE2.  She remains much loved by all of us and going into Dubai each year gives us the opportunity to see the cherished past of Cunard Line from one of our new ships.

Many big white ships sail into many famous harbours around the world.  But there is something unique and special about sailing in on a Cunard ship – with our famous colours and famous red funnel we turn heads.  Thousands of boats and well-wishers often come out to greet us in key destinations – that makes us feel very special and reminds us all of the special history we have in so many ports around the world.

Lastly – and this was a pretty cool idea – a couple of years ago on Queen Mary 2 I met a recently retired surgeon.  He was also a very keen golfer.  He had decided that upon retirement he would go around the world on Queen Mary 2 and play a round of golf at the best golf club in every port we visited.  He kept our Purser’s office quite busy.  I think that too many of our Senior Officers were tempted to go and play golf with him.  But what a fabulous way to spend over a 100 days and I never did check whether his handicap had improved as a result.

So I hope I have helped explain the magic and opportunity of a World Voyage with Cunard Line – be it a full circumnavigation or a sector to some of the more interesting ports and destinations around the world.  We go on sale on 14 July for the 2013 programme.  We also have some availability and keen offers on the 2012 World Voyage.  So whichever one – or hopefully both – you plan to join us on we very much look forward to welcoming you on board.

That’s all for now

Best regards

Peter

Thank you again for all your wonderful comments, they are always appreciated. It’s great to hear how many readers were able to watch the excitement of New York from various vantage points around the harbour.

Before we get to the celebrations of Queen Elizabeth making her first call to Florida, I’d like to share some more exciting news worth celebrating.

I have just found out that Cunard has been voted best cruise line for 2011 by cruise passengers, according to a survey released this week. The Cruise Passenger Ratings Survey includes 8,500 new passenger reviews since January 2010, with details on what passengers think about their cruising experience. Cruise passengers were asked to rate operators and their ships in eight different categories, including best cruise line, best ship, best food and best entertainment. It is the third year running that Cunard has topped the list as best cruise line, with Queen Victoria voted as best ship.  Queen Victoria was also recognised as having the best food, and best shore excursion.
Maiden calls to ports are always fun and exciting, and of course every port on Queen Elizabeth’s Maiden World will be the first. Last Sunday she made her maiden visit to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She was joined by her sister ship, Queen Victoria, who has been sailing alongside our new Queen ever since they left Southampton together on  5 January. This however was the last time they would be together until next summer so it was a special day. This was the lovely view over the harbour from Queen Elizabeth’s upper decks:

As usual there is a traditional Plaque Exchange ceremony, where the local authorities and guests officially welcome the ship to their port. Welcoming Queen Elizabeth to the port that serves Fort Lauderdale was the honourable Mayor John P. “Jack” Seiler, along with travel agents, media and dignitaries. Mayor Seiler said:

“The City of Fort Lauderdale is honored to welcome Queen Elizabeth to Port Everglades. We recognise that the cruise industry is one of greater Fort Lauderdale’s leading economic engines, generating more than $1.3 billion in annual economic activity for our region. Being part of Queen Elizabeth’s Maiden World Voyage is an historic milestone for our city and reaffirms Port Everglades’ position as the world’s top cruise port. We wish her well as she continues her journey, and look forward to welcoming this majestic vessel back to our city on future voyages.”

As the traditional plaques were exchanged, Captain Julian Burgess, Master of Queen Elizabeth, responded by saying:

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“We are delighted by the warm welcome we received today by the popular cruise port  of Fort Lauderdale, and look forward to the further grand celebrations as our newest Queen continues her inaugural calls on her Maiden World Voyage,”

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After a great day in this wonderful port, and welcoming two hundred embarking guests, we all gathered on deck to see a very special Sailaway. Fortunately we had a photographer in a helicopter to capture the moment and certainly the Port Authorities did us proud with fire tugs guiding Queen Elizabeth out from her berth which was located right next to her sister.

Queen Elizabeth then started to make her way past the condominiums at the entrance of the harbour and she certainly looked regal as everyone cheered and waved to the local residents on their balconies.

There is a fantastic Fort Lauderdale tradition where the departing ships are acknowledged by horns, cheers and waving flags from the enthusiastic residents. As our guests also started waving flags, it was great to see British and Cunard flags on many of the balconies giving us a fitting send off.

Then we all looked back, as the sun began to set, to see Queen Victoria start to move away from her berth and then follow us towards the open seas with many well wishers in small crafts to see her off.

As Queen Elizabeth headed to Curacao and Queen Victoria set a course for Bonaire, there was one last opportunity to photograph the sisters together – well for the moment anyway.

What a fantastic picture as both ships continued their voyages and enjoy a few days in the Caribbean before heading through the Panama Canal and then up towards Mexico and America’s west coast.

I’ll be back next week with more news from Queen Elizabeth’s Maiden World Voyage as well as a celebration of all three Queen’s Stars of the month for January. On Monday I also have a special Blog about a fascinating lecturer who was recently part of the Cunard Insights Programme on Queen Elizabeth. Cheers for now, Alastair

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 154 days

Many guests who have sailed on board our ships and enjoyed seeing familiar faces amongst our crew, may have wondered what life is like for them in their daily jobs. For one guest recently on Queen Victoria, this curiosity became a reality.

At the Country Fair event which takes place every year on our Queens’ World Voyages, there are numerous activities aiming to raise money for the charities chosen by the ship’s company. One of those events is where guests are invited to buy raffle tickets to become a member of the Entertainment Staff for the day. Believe it or not this proved to be very popular, and the lucky winner was Joanne Brown, a retired schoolteacher from Vero Beach, Florida. After her day, I had a chat with her to see how she got on.

Firstly we chatted about life before becoming a member of the Entertainment Staff. For many years Joanne taught children with special needs, and has three children of her own along with six grand children. Although she is an experienced cruiser, this was her first voyage with Cunard, joining the World Voyage in Fort Lauderdale in January. She told me that her longest voyage before this was just 14 days, so she wasn’t sure how she would enjoy being on board for over a hundred days, but she says she loved every minute and is now a complete convert to Cunard.

Her friend for 60 years, Jane Upchurch had travelled on QE2, and travelling with four other friends she invited Joanne to join them. At the Country Fair she was helping the team sell raffle tickets for the Grand Prize Draw and next to her; Queens Room Vocalist Paul Ritchie was selling raffle tickets to become Entertainment Staff for the day. She told me; “Having been a tour guide conducting orientations, I thought I could do this and as you see I’m not that shy, so I thought it was a great idea. I would get to go behind the scenes and have a chance to do something really different. In the last few years I have been working through my bucket list, and so far I’ve sky dived, zip lined across a gorge, but this was probably the most fun I have had so far and I’ve made so many new friends”

Joanne’s day began receiving her schedule from Assistant Entertainment Director, Amanda Reid.

Finding your way around the guest areas of Queen Victoria is a big enough challenge, but Joanne’s first task was to explore the crew areas of the ship. She told me she found this really fascinating and here she is in one of the galleys with her guide, Entertainment Staff Nico Lansdell and Executive Chef, Bernhard Stumpfel.

Then it was time for Joanne’s first activity and a quiz in the Winter Garden. In preparation for her big day, she had researched her questions before taking on our World Voyage guests, who said that they had really enjoyed the activity with the twist of a fellow guest as Quizmaster.

Having given out prizes to the winners, Joanne headed to the Queens Room and her debut as a Bingo Caller. Under Nico’s guidance she operated the machine and called the numbers.

As prize money was involved she told me she was relieved that it all went smoothly and once the winners had been paid, and the event completed, it was time for lunch. The Entertainment Staff eat in the Officers Mess Room, so Joanne joined some of the team and chatted about her morning over her meal. From left to right, around the table with Joanne is, Simon Maycock, Melonie Jones, Chris Thomas, Amanda Reid and Nico Lansdell.

She said she was very impressed by the welcome she received from the Staff and Officers in the Mess. After lunch Joanne met up with resident DJ, Gary King to find out about her next activity; Darts in the Golden Lion Pub. This was her first experience of the game and as she told me later, it all went very well as you can see from this photo of her in action.

Joanne’s daughter is an anchor for Channel 10 in Miami, so we thought it would be fun to invite her as a guest on the Queen Victoria Live daily TV show with yours truly.

She told me all about her day so far and how delighted she was that everyone amongst the ships company and her fellow guests had accepted her so well in her temporary role. After the filming she told me how much she enjoyed her moment of fame and couldn’t wait to get home and tell her friends about the experience.

During the evening she worked with the Entertainment Staff in welcoming guests to the Royal Court Theatre Box Programme, and then later joined them in the Golden Lion Pub for the evening game show to wrap up her night.

Chatting to her the next day, Joanne told me how much she had enjoyed her day with the highlight being the morning Trivia. She was still being recognised around the ship, with guests asking her about her day. Joanne said; “While I was having my haircut in the salon another guest turned to me and asked “Where do you work on the ship?” I had to explain!”

She was still enjoying her new found fame by the time Queen Victoria reached Southampton, and then Joanne joined Queen Mary 2 to take her back to New York.

I’d like to thank Joanne for being such a great member of the team on the day, and for chatting to me afterwards so I could post this story.

I’ll be back on Thursday with a Blog featuring an amazing celebration for a guest who celebrated his 100^th birthday recently on Queen Victoria. Hopefully I’ll also have more news soon from Queen Elizabeth in Italy as well as posts from both Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria. Thank you again for all your comments and questions. Cheers for now Alastair.

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 165 days

 

Welcome to another Blog, as Queen Mary 2 arrives in New York after her first Westbound Crossing of the season and Queen Victoria returns to Southampton after her first voyage of the summer, which took her guests to the sunny and warm Iberian Peninsula. Queen Elizabeth is progressing well and I’ll have some more pictures from the shipyard in Monfalcone on Tuesday and Thursday next week.

 

Although her 2010 World Voyage finished a week ago, in this Blog we are looking at some of the great events over the last week of that wonderful circumnavigation. But first, here’s a busy week in Cunard’s History, from 30 April to 6 May

 

1 May 2004	QE2 and Queen Mary 2 arrive in Southampton – the first time two Cunard Queens have been in the company’s home port since 1967. QE2 relinquishes the title of flagship to RMS Queen Mary 2, having been Cunard’s longest serving flagship.
2 May 1969	QE2 began her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York which took 4 days, 16 Hours & 35 Minutes making her the only ship offering a scheduled transatlantic service.
2 May 2005	QE2 marked 36 years of service when she arrived in her homeport of Southampton. A special Birthday party was held on board to honour the ship. Special guests included nine former and current Captains as well as 80 year old John Whitworth OBE, who was the Managing Director of Cunard Line at the time of QE2’s introduction and was instrumental in the ship’s construction.
3 May 1982	Whilst en route to Southampton from Philadelphia, QE2 is requisitioned by the British Government for the Falkland Islands campaign. Cunard Countess is also chartered for use in the conflict. Also requisitioned were the England and Atlantic Conveyor which were both Cunard ships although they were not in passenger service.
4 May 1839	Samuel Cunard signs a seven year contract to carry mail with the British Admiralty

 

 

As regular readers will know, the interdepartmental Crew Tug Of War is a huge event on the World Voyage on both Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria. Following in the wake of many years of this traditional competition various departments trained for the big day. On the Maiden World Voyage the Musicians came out victorious, but were beaten last year by the Deck Department. So who was going to win in 2010? The defending champions were looking good in their fire fighting attire sailing through the first round.

 

 

 

 

 

Despite the tough competition, the event is all about having fun and raising money for the World Voyage Charities, as well as offering an opportunity to dress up, like the Galley department pictured here led by Chef de Cuisine Eric Yeung.

 

 

 

 

 

There were just two ladies teams and this year the Entertainment team chose a country and western theme.

 

 

 

 

Although they looked great they were beaten by the Bar Girls in the final pull. Meanwhile the male members of the Entertainment Department had put together a “Dream Team”, made up of Musicians, Production Staff and Nico from the Entertainment Staff. The strategy seemed to work as they made their way to the semi final to meet the Deck Team.

 

 

 

It was a close call but the Entertainment team managed to win through to the final against a team of contractors who were fitting new carpets around the ship and were joined by Trevor, one of our chefs. Despite a valiant fight by the Dream Team, the contractors and Trevor were victorious and here they are receiving their award from Captain Christopher Rynd.

 

 

 

The mixed team was won by our Purser’s Staff, and here’s our Cashier Darryn Mulford accepting the award on behalf of his team.

 

 

 

There was one more award to be given and that was for the best dressed. This was won by the Production Department for their “Muscle Men”, under the leadership of Senior Production Manager, Chris Knowles.

 

 

 

You may be wondering why the lady in the left hand corner of the photo was laughing so much; it was because Ben Salevante (Queen’s Room Production Manager), had just ripped his outfit as he bent down to pose for the awaiting paparazzi!

 

A couple of days later our guests were treated to another fabulous performance from our Guest Choir. After the success of the performance six weeks beforehand the group was restarted by Simon Maycock of the Entertainment Staff, joined by guests who embarked in Sydney, Hong Kong and Dubai. Paul Ritchie led the rehearsals and conducted the concert, with Dustin Turner back on the piano. Here they are in action on the Royal Court Theatre stage.

 

 

What a great concert it was and congratulations to everyone who took part. Following their performance, which quite rightly received a full standing ovation, there was time to pose for a professional group photo in the Grand Lobby.  

 

 

 

It was coming to the end of the 2010 World Voyage and you could sense mixed feelings. Feelings of sadness that it was coming to an end, as well happiness as everyone looked back at an amazing adventure and all the new friends they had made. There was one more port to go and that was Civitavecchia in Italy. Many guests headed off to Rome for the day on tours offering an amazing taste of this wonderful city. However for those wanting a quieter day, a great meal and a walk along the beach, Civitavecchia is actually a great town with some really good restaurants.

 

 

 

Much as I love going around the world, and Asia is probably my favourite part of the World Voyage, I must admit tucking in to a fantastic pizza back in Italy was wonderful!

 

It was soon time for goodbyes and that was certainly done in style in the Golden Lion Pub on the last night and I promised I would mention some of the regulars who had managed to join the staff most nights. Firstly Tony and Peter (who you may remember were kind enough to give me those great pictures from the top of the Burj Khalifa), who were great regulars from Singapore.

 

 

 

Then of course there were the gentlemen I called the Three Wise Men. They had travelled the entire World Voyage and they had become great familiar faces each night and certainly the Pub felt quite different the night after they disembarked. Here they are, Gil, Brian and in the middle, the man behind the “Ducklings” – (that’s a whole story in itself!) – Terry Waite.

 

 

 

So there it was, the end of another year’s World Voyage and I hope you enjoyed following our Queens, their crews and guests as on their adventures around the world.

For those of you who were with us, I hope these Blogs have brought back some great memories and that you had an incredible time. We look forward to welcoming many of you again next year on Queen Elizabeth or Queen Mary 2 on their 2011 World Voyages or perhaps on Queen Victoria on her voyages in North American waters.

 

Although I am going on leave today, there’s a lot more to share with you over the coming weeks as both Queens settle in to their summer seasons, so I’ll be still Blogging regularly with help from friends on all three ships. Amanda Reid will be taking over from me until I return to Queen Victoria at the end of May. Cheers for now Alastair.

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 166 days

 

One of the landmark events on a World Voyage is when a Cunard Queen hosts the “Country Fair”. The event which goes back more years than I care to suggest, serves firstly as an opportunity for guests and the ships company to raise money for charity, but is also one that is enjoyed by everyone. Readers in Britain will be familiar with the annual Church Fete. Well this is very similar, with comparable events and that same wonderful atmosphere. The only differences are you don’t have to worry about the weather interrupting proceedings, the microphone system actually works and we don’t have to worry about a new roof!

 

In my last post we heard from Queen Mary 2 and the fabulous job they did at their Country Fair, so now it’s time to see what happened at Queen Victoria’s.

 

In keeping with Cunard’s World Voyage tradition, the charities being supported this year were chosen by the Officers and Crew on board Queen Victoria. This year the ship’s company chose Cancer Research UK ( The world’s leading independent organisation dedicated to cancer research), Emasithandane Children’s Project (a home for orphaned and other vulnerable children in Nyanga which is one of the poorest townships in Cape Town), Gawad Kalinga  (A housing project in the Philippines which has helped several hundreds of poor families build small homes) and ShelterBox (an international disaster relief charity that delivers emergency shelter, warmth and dignity to people affected by disaster worldwide, most recently in Haiti and China).

 

On a World Voyage there are numerous events to raise money for the ship’s chosen charities and on Queen Victoria this year events included, Auctions, Sponsored Events, Collections and Donations. For the second year we have also been lucky enough to have Marie and Frank Sotille running a charity table which features everything from local craftwork to guest donations.

 

 

This is their second year on Queen Victoria continuing the tradition from QE2. They do such an amazing job in raising so much during the World Voyage sea days and we are incredibly grateful for all their work.

 

Queen Victoria’s Country Fair marked the beginning of an amazing day. In fact work had been taking place for many days before hand, carefully orchestrated by Lisa Fanning, Thomas Quinones, Mel Jones and Jennifer Schaper of the Entertainment team along with many other members of the Entertainment Staff and guests.

 

The morning was a hive of activity as guests and crew prepared the stalls and decorated the Queens Room with Captain Rynd poised at 2pm to cut the ribbon to let eager guests spend their money.

 

 

It didn’t take long for the Queens Room to be packed with bargain hunters at the Second Hand Rose stall, and others trying their luck at the computer simulator where they could drive the ship, with our Bridge Officers on hand to help.

 

 

There was, Guess the Weight of the Cake, Chop the Carrot and we even had a raffle for a lucky guest to become a member of the Entertainment Staff for a day! This was won by Joanne Brown and you can read more about that in a Blog next week. We also had Tina Poxon, Mary Tinson and Joan Burrel as the Human Fruit Machine!

 

 

When refreshment was required, we had guests who volunteered to serve tea and cakes, and here’s Patsy Wilson serving fellow guests Elizabeth Davidson and Sean Thomson.

 

 

This was one of the big events where crew are also invited to come along and join in the fun and this is Ariel, one of our accommodation team who, by the looks of him, did very well at the tombola stall!

 

 

We also showed off items which were to be sold a couple of days later at the Charity Auction which included the whole World Voyage Chart, Afternoon Tea with the Captain in his quarters as well as items from the Deck and Engine Department and some unique Cunard memorabilia donated by guests and crew. In fact by the end of the World Voyage Queen Victoria had raised over $35,000 including the proceeds of the Navigational Chart Auction from each leg of the World Voyage, (which goes to the Princes trust). It was an amazing achievement and our thanks go to the guests and crew of Queen Victoria for all their work and generosity.

 

That night we held our Full World Voyage party; the final one of the voyage for our guests who were enjoying the 2010 Full World Voyage. The Theme was our adventures around the world and the Culinary Team excelled themselves in some superb sculptures and decorations like this head table depicting some of the ports we had visited.

 

 

How about this magnificent ice sculpture? It is a stunning Chinese Dragon, which arrived in four sections.

 

 

These incredible displays weren’t only for show; here guests were invited to enjoy fresh sushi and seafood from one of our talented chefs. Yes that is a handmade Hong Kong Junk behind him.

 

 

Much of the beautiful artwork had been created by our on board ice and food carver, Catalino, and here he is with some of his handiwork like this camel which took him two days to make.

 

 

There was so much preparation involved for such an event and here are our Executive Chef Bernard Stumphel and Executive Sous Chef, Nicholas Oldroyd, looking very proud of their team’s work.

 

 

And here they are, just some of the creative talent behind the event.

 

 

Then it was time to let our guests enjoy the evening which was a huge success, receiving numerous compliments from guests saying it was a fantastic crescendo to the World Voyage, as you can see in this picture which captures just some of the atmosphere of the evening.

 

That night there was an Egyptian Ball and we were fortunate enough to have Amanda Reid on board. She had been on for the beginning of Queen Mary 2’s World Voyage and had been instrumental in the Sand Dance at their Egyptian Ball in January. When she suggested doing the same on Queen Victoria I agreed instantly before realising who she had cast in the roles……

 

 

Yes, take a close look and the cast are – on the left Social Hostess, Jenny Schaper, on the Right Assistant Entertainment Director Amanda Reid and yes in the middle it is yours truly! Oh Well it was the World Voyage!

 

 

That’s it for now, but I’ll be back tomorrow with some pictures and news of some of the events over the last couple of weeks. I know I said I would have more pictures of Queen Elizabeth, but I’m afraid they will have to wait for next Tuesday – but they’ll be worth it. Cheers for now, Alastair

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 168 days

 

Firstly I hope you like our new look and more interactive Blog. A big thank you to Richard, Matt, Shelley and Lisa back in Southampton, for managing to incorporate so many ideas in to the new look Blog as well as making it easier to read. I’d love to hear what you think, along with all your comments and questions as always.

 

Both our Queens have settled in to their summer seasons, with Queen Mary 2 making her first westbound Transatlantic Crossing and Queen Victoria on her first voyage to the Iberian Peninsula. However there are still a few stories from our World Voyages that I’ll be sharing with you over the next week or so, as well as what’s new on board and ashore.

 

Now it’s a great pleasure to hand over to Queen Mary 2’s Social Hostess who managed to send me a post about the last few days of Queen Mary 2’s World Voyage before she went on leave in Southampton, so it’s over to Freda.

 

Guest Blog – Freda Singleton, Queen Mary 2, Social Hostess

 

As Queen Mary 2 approached Southampton last Thursday, she came to the end of her 2010 World Voyage; we’d like to bring all our avid bloggers up to date with the latest.

 

We asked our guests to make the 2010 World Voyage Charity Country Fair the best ever and they jumped up to the challenge!  The atmosphere in the Queens Room was pure Country Fair, with the full range of typical stalls hosted by guests and crew alike from ‘Hook the fish’, the flower booth, the coconut shy, and the wonderful 5-minute massage run by the housekeeping team, the florist, the entertainment staff and the Canyon Ranch Spa respectively; to Numerology, the Human Fruit Machine, ‘Guess the weight of the cake’ and the ‘Book stall’ all hosted by our guests, to name just a few of the activities on offer. 

 

  

 

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The ‘Second Hand Rose’ stall could have easily filled the entire starboard section on the upper level and was all but empty by the end of the afternoon. All supported by the delicious offering from the Corner Cafe with cream teas, crepe suzettes, chocolate coated strawberries and the most tempting display of beautiful cakes, pastries and sandwiches. And what a fantastic result!  A phenomenal $18,426, made up of $11,776 from the fair and $6,650 from the auction of things that money can’t buy, such as dinner at the Captain’s Table, blowing the ship’s whistle, a Queen Mary 2 life ring, the full World Voyage navigational chart, Queen Mary 2’s Sunday ensign – enthusiastically bid for and taken by the on board Protestant Priest – and much more. 

         

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This picture shows just some of the nautical items that were available for our guests to bid for, while Captain Bates discusses raffle prizes with guests. As you can see from the next picture, there was even an authentic coconut shy!

 

 

Added to that were the superb contributions from the crew, who somehow managed their own midnight auctions and raised $2,340 (part of which went to the Crew Welfare charities). The total of Queen Mary 2’s charity donations for the whole World Voyage came to the magnificent total of $26,020.05, which has been split between this year’s four nominated charities:

 

The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund

The Prostheses Foundation of Thailand

The Seaman’s Institute of Brooklyn, New York

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution

 

 

 

Then it was – Time to Dance – Queen Mary 2 Style!

 

Queen Mary 2’s answer to Strictly Come Dancing, we gave our guests their moment in the spotlight on the largest dance floor at sea.  To the delight of the packed Queens Room we were entertained by ten superb dance performances from the traditional waltz to the Viennese waltz and from the quickstep, to the jive and the Argentinean tango! Ten nervous couples put themselves at the mercy of our tough panel of judges, led by Entertainment Director, Ray Rouse – a fellow of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance and two of the talented Royal Cunard Dancers, Kelly-Rhian Scott and Katie Woolnough, assessing their technique, timing, interpretation and performance.

 

 

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It was such a rewarding experience to see such polished and elegant routines that for many, was entirely the result of their time on board with us for our 2010 World Voyage. Heart-warming reinforcement indeed for those who select Cunard for the ballroom and dancing!  

 

 

Our runners-up – Jean Baker and Gentleman Dance Host, Dennis King who performed an outstanding quickstep.  Jean’s radiant smile lit up the entire ballroom and did not slip once! Meanwhile here are the well-deserved winners with their Argentinean Tango; Cecile Lanthier and Steve Groleau.

 

 

What better way to celebrate the end of a truly legendary, elegant and memorable World Voyage than to send us spinning us into the 2010 transatlantic season – the glamorous finale with Renato and Katy to whom so many of our guests wish to pay a special thank you for their dancing expertise and inspiration.

           

                                             

Thank you so much Freda for another great Blog and congratulations to everyone involved in those fantastic events; it’s great to see so much being raised for these very worthy charities.

 

I’ll be back on Wednesday with a blog about some of the events during the last week of Queen Victoria’s World Voyage and on Thursday I’m delighted to tell you that I will have brand new photos from Monfalcone in Italy where Queen Elizabeth is currently under construction. Cheers, Alastair

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 179 days

 

I know it’s a bit of a cliché to say how time flies, but it always feels the same towards the end of a World Voyage. Queen Victoria has just made her third transit through the Suez Canal and will be arriving in Piraeus for Athens today, before heading off to Civitavecchia for Rome on Saturday. Then it will be the final four day crossing back to Southampton. Meanwhile Queen Mary 2 is back in New York having now completed her 101 day, third World Voyage. This evening she will be crossing the Atlantic back to Southampton and both ships will be there together on 22 April, which is the first time they have been there together since last year, so it will be cause for celebration. And with less than six months to go before our new Queen joins the fleet, Queen Elizabeth is making great progress and hopefully I’ll have some more pictures for you soon. 

 

Before we find out about the culinary celebrations on Queen Mary 2 here’s this week in Cunard’s history from 16 to 22 April.

 

16 April 1982	QE2 makes her maiden call at Arrecife, Lanzarote
16 April 2004	Queen Mary 2 departs Southampton on her first transatlantic crossing to New York.
17 April 1920	The Albania is launched as the first new build for Cunard after the First World War, although her keel was laid in 1914
18 April 1912	The Carpathia docked at Pier 54, in New York with the 700+ survivors of Titanic. She was greeted by thousands of people.
18 April 1969	Cunard formally accepts delivery of QE2

 

You may remember in February this year, we highlighted a Cunard World Voyage tradition, with the Chef’s Salon Culinaire on Queen Victoria. If you didn’t get to read it you can click on this link to find out more.

 

http://wearecunard.com/2010/02/19/

 

I was delighted the other day when Mark Oldroyd, Queen Mary 2’s Executive Sous Chef, sent me pictures of their event, which they held recently. The competition took place in our flagship’s magnificent Queens Room, and Mark takes up the story:

 

 “Queen Mary 2’s 2010 Chefs Culinary Cooking Competition was a huge success. The chefs really went all out and produced masterpieces and signature dishes that even Escoffier would be proud of. The team really wowed our guests with the event being the talk of the ship for days. We were so proud of the chefs; the commitment and sheer dedication the team projected was electric, it was a chance for them to let go and cook their favourite signature dishes and culinary visions. They all definitely exceeded all our expectations.”

 

 He told me that they had five categories in this year’s event including an award for the Pastry and Bakery Show Piece.

 

This was won by Richard Serran who is Demi Chef de Partie Baker. Here he is with his award winning entry and from (left to right) Executive Chef Karl Winkler, Executive Sous Chef Mark Oldroyd, Hotel Manager David Stephenson and Food & Beverage Manager Bernhard Fischer.

 

The next winner was for the Hot or Cold Plated Entree category

               

 

This was won by Noli Salimbagat who is a Chef De Cuisine and like so many of the entries managed to make his work look too delicious to ever eat.  

 

Many of our guests have an opportunity to see a fruit and vegetable carving demonstration while they are on board and this competition looked for the most artistic creation.

 

 

The Fruit and Vegetable Carving award went to Rizalde Gagaring who is a Chef De Partie, Food Artist.

 

One of the most popular categories amongst our guests, is the dessert section, which always produces some of the most inventive pieces.

 

 

The Plated Dessert winner was Franz Joseph Ballelos who is a Demi Chef De Partie, Pastry.

 

Some of the biggest creations are in the Cold Larder Buffet Display category.

 

 

This was won by Panchoo Arvin Kumar who is a Chef de Partie

 

Back in the Britannia Restaurant Galley, all the winners came together with their Certificates for a group photograph.

 

 

From left to right they are, Panchoo Arvin Kumar, Richard Serran, Franz Joseph Ballelos, Noli Salimbagat and Rizalde Gagaring.

 

Karl Winkler and Mark Oldroyd told me they would like to thank all departments and the ships on board services for their generosity as they donated some excellent prizes which were really appreciated by all the winners.

 

Thank you Mark for sharing this great success story and congratulations to you and all your chefs for what sounds like an amazing event, showing yet again the incredible skills of our on board culinary teams.

 

That’s it for this week, I’ll be back on Monday with more news from around the fleet, including a very special story from Queen Victoria as we come to the last few days of our 2010 World Voyage. We’ll also have some other great stories so thanks again for logging on. Cheers for now Alastair.

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 183 days

 

Welcome to another Blog, this time celebrating our World Voyages on Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria. Thank you all for all your comments and questions as well; it’s great to hear so many of you are following our Queens’ progress around the globe.

 

There are many events that only take place on longer voyages which makes them very special. One activity that we first tried out on Queen Victoria’s maiden voyage was Float Your Boat. Guests are invited to form teams of would be Mariners, and construct a ship that will carry a cargo from one end of the Pavilion Pool to another. There aren’t many rules apart from the fact the vessel cannot be touched whilst in the water and cannot have any form of motorised propulsion. The rest we leave to our guests’ imagination.

 

The activity was first staged on the way to New Zealand, but guests asked for another chance to win the accolade, so we announced a Re-Float Your Boat after we left Hong Kong, with the defending champion Ace with its American Team ready to fend off a new set of competitors.

 

The first job was for the teams to show off their craft, and some even dressed for the occasion like the crew of the SS UKAUSTUS.

 

 

The more astute will realise the name is made up of the nationalities of the team members, Dianne Jones from Australia, Jaques Baillargeon from USA and Jack Conn from the UK. Then it was time to see how well the ships would perform in their Sea Trials which took place in the whirlpool!

 

 

This was a chance for the owners to try out their handiwork, however it didn’t always go as the teams would have liked, such as this interesting vessel Captained by Henry Strange from Britain.

 

 

Then it was time for the actual heats and it was quite a sight to see the various craft in the water especially the French ship under the command of Gilbert Cheve whose ingenious design used rice crackers as floatation devices!

 

 

But there do have to be winners, and unfortunately Ace didn’t manage to retain the title. Instead the Ribband was shared by two teams and here they are receiving their awards from Nico Lansdell of the Entertainment Staff, who did a great job in organising yet another very successful World Voyage event.

 

 

Easter is always a big occasion on board Cunard ships, starting with Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday. It’s a great opportunity for our Pastry Chefs to show off their amazing talents with Chocolate displays around the ship. Queen Mary 2 had quite a few different displays on the Purser’s desk and in the various restaurants.

 

 

Meanwhile here on Queen Victoria guests woke up on Easter Sunday to a magnificent festive display in the Grand Lobby.

 

 

And finally…………..

 

You may have been as surprised as many of our guests were on Queen Victoria recently, when they saw an article in the ship’s Daily Programme suggesting that Cunard was about to change the colours of the ships’ funnels. Well see for yourself:

 

 

You may be interested to know that the date on the front cover of the Daily Programme was April 1st!!

 

Oh yes we had some fun with that, watching numerous guests getting their cameras out and taking their final pictures of the old colour as they disembarked on their tours that morning. In fact we even received a complaint at the Purser’s Desk later that day, saying they didn’t like the new colour!

 

We would also like to thank the three guests (who will remain anonymous) who came along to our advertised activity at 11.00am………

 

 

The time was duly observed with the three rather confused guests, who when the realised the date, pleaded with us not to say who they were!

 

That’s it for today, but I’ll be back on Wednesday with a feature about our recent overnight stay in Dubai which includes some spectacular pictures taken from the top of the World’s tallest building. Then on Thursday we’ll have a special story from Queen Mary 2 and a recent Culinary Event held on their 2010 World Voyage. Cheers for now Alastair.

 

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 217 days

 

As Queen Victoria heads north to Hong Kong, Queen Mary 2 has arrived in Australia for her overnight call to Sydney. Australia is a highlight for guests and crew as it marks the half way point of the World Voyage and the ports of call there are stunning. This year both ships make maiden calls to the south coast cities for the first time, so I want to share Queen Victoria’s visits to those ports in this Blog.

 

Australia is big, in fact England could fit in to the country 59 times, yet it has the lowest population density of any country in the world with just two people per square kilometre. Between our first port of Sydney and the final port of Exmouth, Queen Victoria sailed 3,232 nautical miles across three time zones. She visited six cities, four of which are apparently in the top fifteen most livable cities in the world!

 

We started our Australian adventure in Sydney and as you may recall from the Blog on 22 February, we celebrated our third visit to the city by turning Queen Victoria pink, in aid of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. For more great pictures of Queen Victoria in Sydney on last year’s World Voyage click on this link:

 

http://wearecunard.com/2009/02/g%e2%80%99day-sydney/

 

Here’s a picture of Queen Victoria docked at Circular Quay taken this year from the other side of the iconic Harbour Bridge.

 

 

There is so much to do in Sydney, but one of my favourites is to take a ferry to Manley, and then walk along the coastal path where you feel you are in the outback, yet have the most incredible views of Sydney Harbour:

 

 

After a spectacular Sailaway, we made our second call to the capital of the state of Victoria, Melbourne. It was the capital city of Australia from 1901 until 1927 and has twice shared the top position of The World’s Most Livable Cities on the basis of its cultural attributes, climate, cost of living, and social conditions. It is home to numerous prestigious sporting events and is an impressive home to the arts. It was the perfect city to host Queen Victoria’s World Voyage Dinner, which this year was held at the National Gallery of Victoria. I’ll be doing a separate Blog about that in a few days time, but needless to say it was a spectacular event. This is a great view of the city:

 

 

After a day at sea, Queen Victoria made her maiden call to Adelaide, the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of South Australia, and the fifth-largest city in the country. Named in honour of Queen Adelaide who was born in Germany, the consort of King William IV. The city was founded in 1836 as the planned capital for the only freely settled British province in Australia. It is known for its many festivals, sporting events, food, culture, long beachfronts and its wine. In fact I spent the day with some of Queen Victoria’s Sommeliers visiting the D’arenberg winery in McLaren Vale, and I’ll have a special Blog on that as well over the coming days. It gave us an opportunity to see some of South Australia’s stunning countryside:

 

 

Two sea days later, we arrived in yet another Australian state, this time Western Australia. I soon found out from our many Australians on board that they pronounced this town, Albany with A as in “At” as opposed to the way I would have said it as “All”! Once that was cleared up, our guests enjoyed the relatively small city of approximately 33,000 residents.

 

 

The city was founded in January 1827 as a military outpost of New South Wales as part of a plan to forestall French ambition in the region. The area was initially named Frederickstown in honour of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. In 1831 the settlement was transferred to the control of the Swan River Colony, and renamed Albany by Governor James Stirling. During the First World War the town was last port of call for troopships departing Australia, but today it is more known as a tourist base where visitors can discover the beautiful surrounding areas as well as the town which is well regarded for its natural beauty and preservation of heritage.

 

 

The following day we reached the port city of Fremantle which is 19 kilometres (12 miles) southwest of Perth, the state capital of Western Australia, at the mouth of the Swan River on Australia’s western coast. It was the first settlement of the Swan River colonists in 1829. The city is named after Captain Charles Fremantle, the English naval officer who had pronounced possession of Western Australia and who established a camp at the site.

 

Most of our guests visited the nearby city of Perth which was founded on 12 June 1829 by Captain James Stirling, as the political centre of the free-settler Swan River Colony.

 

 

There were many stunning buildings in the city, and one of the most impressive has to be the Swan Bells which are a set of eighteen bells hanging in a specially built 82.5 metres (271 ft)-high copper and glass campanile.

 

 

 

Twelve of the set are historic bells that were donated by the St. Martin-in-the-Fields church in London, to the State of Western Australia as part of the 1988 Australian bicentenary celebrations. The other six were cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, with metals mined in Western Australia. They are one of the largest sets of change ringing bells in the world, and have become a major attraction in the city since they began ringing in December 2001.

Our final port in Australia was certainly the smallest and most remote, and as one Australian guest told me “It’s the closest to the outback you’ll get to on the coast”. Queen Victoria anchored off the town of Exmouth and the ships tenders took guests and crew ashore.

 

They weren’t kidding when they said it was small. We arrived at the pontoon area which is currently being developed in to a lovely marina area, but as you can see it’s still in the early stages.

 

 

A short shuttle bus ride took us in to the town of just under two thousand residents, although apparently this does swell to over six thousand at the height of the tourist season. Exmouth was established in 1964 to support the nearby United States Naval Communication Station. Despite its current expansion, it is still a small rural town. This is the high street which is as busy as it gets:

 

 

The two big attractions in the area are the Cape Range National Park and the world renowned Ningaloo Marine Park, famous for its snorkeling and glass bottom boat tours. There’s not that much in the town itself, so when I asked David and Sue Holbert from Britain what they had done, they told me it was apparently a great place to have your haircut. Here they are sporting their new looks:

 

 

Meanwhile in our pursuit to find something to drink and eat we did find a good local pub, having given up looking for this Chinese restaurant?

 

 

I still don’t know what that sign was doing there; maybe next year! In the meantime I think our chances of finding a good Chinese restaurant may be a bit better when we visit Hong Kong this week!

 

Well that’s it from Australia for another year, but I have two more Blogs from this great country coming to you this week, including a report from Queen Victoria’s 2010 World Voyage Dinner and our trip to a Winery near Adelaide. I’ll also be back with another Video Blog about Queen Elizabeth and news of some stunning artwork that will feature on board our new Queen. Cheers Alastair

Countdown to Queen Elizabeth – 244 days

 

One of the best aspects of a world voyage is the tremendous variety of entertainment and activities we are able to offer our guests. Recently on Queen Victoria’s second leg of this World Voyage, our guests were delighted to find that one of the musical legends of the 1960’s was not only on board, but was also going to present two lectures about his life and amazing career. It was great to spend a bit of time with Roger and his wife Camilla, and chat about his work. He told me that one of the most common misconceptions from many of us in the UK is that the Byrds are not in fact a British band! So for those of you like me who maybe know his music more than the man himself, here’s a potted history.

 

Jim McGuinn, later known as Roger, was already a veteran of the New York and Los Angeles music scene when he co-founded the group that would become The Byrds with Gene Clark and David Crosby in 1964.

 

 

 

Prior to forming the Byrds, Roger toured and performed folk music with the Limeliters, Chad Mitchell Trio and Bobby Darin as a guitarist and banjo player. Originally from Chicago, Roger studied at the Old Town School of Folk Music and was active on Chicago’s folk scene, where he was strongly influenced as a teenager by Bob Gibson.  Within a few weeks of finishing high school, Roger was working with the Limeliters in California, where he played guitar and banjo on their album “Tonight: In Person.”

 

After touring for a while with Bobby Darin, Roger moved to New York at Darin’s request, to work for his publishing company. He and Frank Gari co-wrote the song, “Beach Ball,” and performed it with Darin, as the City Surfers, on a very rare single released in July 1963. After hearing the Beatles for the first time, Roger began playing folk songs to a rock beat in the coffee houses of Greenwich Village. His experiments in merging folk and rock took him to Los Angeles and the Troubadour, where he met Gene Clark and then David Crosby who added his unique concepts of harmony to the duo, thereby completing the beginning of one of the most influential bands of the ’60s.

 

In January 1965 Columbia Records signed the Byrds and they recorded their first number one hit, “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Three years later McGuinn and Chris Hillman hired Gram Parsons and headed for Nashville where they recorded the now critically acclaimed “Sweetheart of the Rodeo.”

 

Roger McGuinn disbanded the Byrds in 1973 to pursue his dream of a solo career and made five solo albums with Columbia Records. Roger’s latest release in 2006 was a 4 CD 100 song Box Set of Rock, Electrified Blues and Folk, rich in Rickenbacker “Jingle Jangle” – called “The Folk Den Project”.

 

This was Roger’s first time, lecturing on board so I asked him how he found the experience; he was kind enough to write this Guest Blog:

 

Guest Blog – Roger McGuinn – Founder Member Of The Byrds

 

 

My wife Camilla and I just completed a leg of the Queen Victoria World Voyage from New York to San Francisco through the Panama Canal. I was invited to give two lectures on board entitled “How Folk Music took me to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”  We joined in the excitement with the other guests to experience one of the Seven Wonders of the World!

 

The camaraderie of the voyage began the first day at our restaurant table with the three other couples who sat with us; one from New York, one from Scotland, and another from Australia. By the end of the voyage neighboring tables were sharing stories of their daily adventures with our gregarious group. The restaurant quickly became a gathering of friends.

 

The “Victorian London” motif of the ship and dressing for dinner each evening set the stage for the feel of an elegant by-gone period of time.  We had a breathtaking view from a fantastic balcony. It was too nice to keep to ourselves, so we hosted two “sail away” parties during our voyage; one from Cartagena and the other from Acapulco.

 

After we traversed the Panama Canal, I gave my first lecture about my early influences in music in the beautiful Royal Court Theatre. I began with singing a bit of “Heartbreak Hotel,” the song that inspired to make music my life’s ambition. Throughout the lecture I spoke of the career opportunities that came serendipitously along the way throughout my 50 years in the entertainment business, beginning with being hired for my first professional job when I was 17 by the Limeliters. My keynote presentation included clips from those early years and the people I worked with including the Chad Mitchell Trio, Ertha Kit, Bobby Darin, Judy Collins and Paul Simon. Then I recounted the story of the formation of the Byrds.

 

My second lecture began with the story on how Miles Davis was responsible for the Byrds being signed to a recording contract on Columbia Records. The 45 minutes seemed to fly by as I told the stories of the songs, the musicians, the movie sound tracks and my current projects. There was little time for questions, but I met with the folks after the lecture and heard about how my music affected their lives. Queen Victoria created a small town feeling for all the guests. There were no strangers on board.

 

In the mornings we always enjoyed the televised shows of Alastair Greener, the Entertainment Director. He kept us informed of the daily lectures, shows and adventures available. There was so much to do, but there were days where we just sat on the balcony and enjoyed the changing colors of the ocean and sky.

 

After a long leisurely dinner with our table mates, we often went to the various dance venues. I have never considered myself a dancer but the elegance of the evenings prompted us to dance the night away to the sounds of some wonderful bands.

 

Queen Victoria captures the grand days of ocean voyages! We are looking forward to our next trip! All the best, Roger McGuinn

 

I’d like to thank Roger again for his wonderful lectures and for taking the time to talk to us on the Blog. Not only is he a legend in the music business but a fascinating person to talk to. Roger was also kind enough to coming on the morning TV show that our guests watch and we thought you may like to see a clip from that:

 

 

 

You can find out more about Roger at his website by clicking on this link. www.mcguinn.com

 

I’ll be back again on Thursday with my regular weekly post and more news from the World Voyages on Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria. Cheers Alastair.